Blues coach Leon MacDonald has taken a glass-half-full outlook to his side's comprehensive defeat at the hands of the Crusaders in the Super Rugby Pacific final.
The visitors dictated terms from the opening whistle at Eden Park, establishing set-piece dominance and playing the clinical brand of finals rugby you'd expected from such a decorated side and coaching staff, ultimately closing out a 21-7 win to add a 13th Super Rugby title to their bulging trophy cabinet.
The Blues' 15-game unbeaten streak ended brutally, but MacDonald insists his team will take plenty of lessons away from their first taste of fully fledged finals football.
"I thought tonight was a big learning curve," said MacDonald. "The whole week was significantly different, dealing with the hype of this game.
"For some guys, it was a really new experience. If you haven't played a lot of test rugby, you've got to experience it to be able to learn how to deal with it and I think some guys will have some lessons from this week
"But overall, you can't fault the effort and throughout the whole year, I think our guys have been fantastic, working really hard for each other and playing with a lot of pride. Every time they've pulled the Blues jersey on, they gave it everything they had.
"Some guys are hurting in the changing shed right now, which is what you'd expect."
While the Blues sampled a Super Rugby final in last year's abbreviated Trans Tasman variation of the competition, playing the big-game-hardened Crusaders on the back of a full season was always an altogether different proposition.
Stymied by the Crusaders' relentless pressure, the Blues barely fired a shot offensively - their one try came from an opportunistic error by their opponents on their own scrum feed.
The Blues had to make almost 100 more tackles than their adversaries, who enjoyed a 57 percent share of both territory and possession.
MacDonald added the Crusaders "had our playbook" at set-piece, where they pilfered a staggering 10 of the 19 Blues' throws at lineout time.
"They certainly had a strategy to sort us out at set-piece," acknowledged captain Beauden Barrett. "They put us under a lot of pressure, and spoiled our flow and tempo that we like to play.
"It was frustrating we couldn't get into our game. Whenever we did get going, it wasn't on our terms and we were forced to make a bit of stuff up.
"Got to give them credit - their defence was impressive and good enough to win it tonight."
Next year, the Blues will return with essentially the same youthful playing group, significantly boosted by the return of talismanic lock Patrick Tuipulotu from Japan. France-bound prop Karl Tu'inukuafe is the only confirmed departure.
"We'll have pretty much a similar squad, 99 percent [the same]," MacDonald noted. "Other than a couple of exceptions, still pretty young.
"We've got a good group of young men and, at times, some of the maturity and leadership they showed this year exceeded their age.
"Losing finals, I've got a bit of experience in that as well. I was hoping I wouldn't have to experience it tonight, but it is what it is.
"You've got to take the good with the bad. It's a game, ultimately, and it hurts like hell.
"If you win it, you want to come back and win it again, and if you lose it, there's that stone in your shoe that just doesn't go away.
"We've got a group that can win a competition, I've got no doubt about that. It wasn't for us this year, but we'll be back next year and we'll be pretty hungry."
Barrett echoes his coach's sentiments, insisting the Blues will be back much better for the experience.
"Obviously, [the team] lacks final experience," said Barrett. "We'll learn a lot from this one.
"We can hold our heads up high about the season that we've had, but we'll certainly remember this feeling that we're feeling right now.
"You can't fight it, it is what it is. As long as we stick together, we learn.
"It's a great group of lads that we've got, and we'll stick tight in the next couple of days and come back stronger next year."
